April 2013

April 23, 2013

SAN ANTONIO -– Los Angeles Lakers point guard Steve Nash believes he knows why the Dallas Mavericks missed the playoffs this year for the first time since the 1999-2000 season.

“Obviously, it turned into a pretty tough situation to succeed when they had to sign all those guys to one-year deals,’’ Nash told the Star-Telegram following Monday’s practice at the Texas Military Institute. “You’re not only putting a bunch of new guys on the team.

“But you’re also trying to put a bunch that don’t know what their future is together. So that’s a difficult situation.”

April 22, 2013

SAN ANTONIO -- The San Antonio Spurs opened the playoffs Sunday by defeating the Los Angeles Lakers, 91-79, at the AT&T Center.

But despite the victory, the Spurs were far from perfect. Far from pefect.

The Spurs shot a miserable 37.6 percent from the field, which was their lowest shooting percentage in the playoffs since 2003. The Spurs also got outrebounded by the Lakers, 44-43, lost two quarters to LA, and also were outscored by the Lakers in the paint, 40-32.

Probably the most egregious error the Spurs made was their inability to -- for the better part of three quarters -- put away a Laker team that was without the injured Kobe Bryant. The Spurs know they must clean up a lot of these mistakes before they host the Lakers in Game 2 of this best-of-seven series Wednesday at 8:30 p.m.

"We'll look at the film, but it's basketball," Gregg Popovich said. "Every coach, every team thinks that their team can do everything better.

"We'll look at what we think the most important things are, the things that we did the poorest and work on that.''

Since there are two off days between games, the Spurs hope it's a situation they can take advantage of.

"It's a lucky break for us to have that schedule without a doubt,'' Popovich said. "But you still have to take advantage of it.

"It's easy to react to a loss, so they'll come back and play even better. I want to see how we react to a win.''

SAN ANTONIO -- The San Antonio Spurs limped into the playoffs losers in seven of their last 10 games. The natives were, naturally, restless.

Sunday afternoon at the AT&T Center, the Spurs got back to form by opening the Western Conference playoffs with a 91-79 victory over the Los Angeles Lakers. But don't go talking about flipping switches on around the Spurs.

April 21, 2013

SAN ANTONIO -- Tony Parker scored 18 points and handed out eight assists as the San Antonio Spurs defeated the Los Angeles Lakers, 91-79, in Game 1 of the opening round of the playoffs Sunday afternoon at the AT&T Center.

The game was basically played at the Lakers' slow pace. But the Spurs still were able to grind it out and beat the Lakers at their own game, despite shooting just 37.6 percent from the field.

Duncan scored eight points and grabbed three rebounds and the Spurs took a 24-15 lead after the first quarter. San Antonio led at the halftime (45-37) and after three quarters (70-57).

With Kobe Bryant out for the season with a torn Achilles tendon, the Lakers were at a huge disadvantage. But the Lakers stayed within striking distance of the Spurs until the lights went dark on LA when three-pointers by Danny Green and Bonner padded San Antonio's lead to 84-68 with 4:04 left in the game.

“I just think this is just one of those years,’’ said Jamison before Sunday's playoff opener against the San Antonio Spurs at the AT&T Center. “You had Dirk (Nowitzki) who wasn’t healthy, and they made a transition with a lot of new players.

“Anybody who knows Mark Cuban, this is not one of those situations where they’re going to continue to not make the playoffs. I just think it’s one of those seasons where his star was hurt and the transition of different of players.’’

The Mavs won the NBA title two years ago, were swept in four games by Oklahoma City in the first round of the playoffs last year, and finished this non-playoff season with a 41-41 record.

Jamison knows Cuban is holed up in a room somewhere mapping out a new strategy for success.

“Two years ago they were the champs and now they didn’t make the playoffs,’’ Jamison said. “But that’s not doing anything but adding fuel to the fire with Mark.

“He’s going to figure it out, he’s going to get them even tougher next year. In the next couple of years they’re going to be another powerhouse -- like always.’’

“I just think this is just one of those years,’’ said Jamison before Sunday's playoff opener against the San Antonio Spurs at the AT&T Center. “You had Dirk (Nowitzki) who wasn’t healthy, and they made a transition with a lot of new players.

“Anybody who knows Mark Cuban, this is not one of those situations where they’re going to continue to not make the playoffs. I just think it’s one of those seasons where his star was hurt and the transition of different of players.’’

The Mavs won the NBA title two years ago, were swept in four games by Oklahoma City in the first round of the playoffs last year, and finished this non-playoff season with a 41-41 record.

Jamison knows Cuban is holed up in a room somewhere mapping out a new strategy for success.

“Two years ago they were the champs and now they didn’t make the playoffs,’’ Jamison said. “But that’s not doing anything but adding fuel to the fire with Mark.

“He’s going to figure it out, he’s going to get them even tougher next year. In the next couple of years they’re going to be another powerhouse -- like always.’’

April 18, 2013

DALLAS -- After he met with his players for their season-ending exit interviews Thursday, Dallas Mavericks coach Rick Carlisle told a story that sort of put this year's disappointing season in perspective.

It was one of those straight out of the mouths of babes type of story. Carlisle started the story off by saying:

"I think it's just so important, coaching, because it's so intensed and it's so emotional. And when you get a team with challenges like we had this year, sometimes there are things that happen along the way that put things in perspective.

"For example, back in early January we had a very, very difficult loss at home and it reall'y upset me. So I went home that night and my daughter (Abby), who is eight years old, knew that this was really upsetitng to me."

Carlisle went on to say: "So there's a room downstairs in our house where I keep all my suits so I don't have to schlep them up and down the stairs. It's one of the guest bedrooms. So I went in there and I took my stuff with me to kind of empty my suit out in the closet.

"So she came in and closed the door behind her, and she sat on the bed, and I turned around and I saw her and I said, "Hey, Abby, what's up?' She goes, "Dad, you know in life there's always going to be bumps along the road.''

That drew laughter from the assembled media.

"Now that's a true story. And at that moment it was clear to me that my focus had to shift to doing everything possible to engage our staff to figure out exactly what the strengths and weaknesses of our players were, and to move forward and find a way to make every day a little bit better if we could.''

DALLAS --With free agency looming, center Elton Brand would like to return to the Dallas Mavericks for a second season.

And he hopes to help make amends for the disappointing non-playoff 41-41 record the Mavs put on the boards this season.

"Free agent-wise, of course I'd like to be back,'' Brand said Thursday. "Like I said (Wednesday), .500 for this organization, that is definitely a failure.

"I don’t want to be a part of that. It left a bad taste.''

So bad that Brand would like to return so he can help the Mavs -- their 12-year playoff streak was snapped -- right that wrong.

"I definitely want to be here on a winning team and try to rectify what happened this season, if possible,'' Brand said. "To break this streak and not be a part of the playoffs, that’sthe most disappointing part.''